Advisory board says county needs to help pay for updates to the building

The question of who should pay for the cleaning and upkeep on the Gary DeSoto Building at the Logan County Fairgrounds was up for discussion at the Logan County Commissioners' meeting Tuesday. (Sara Waite/Journal-Advocate)

STERLING — There's no question that the Gary DeSoto Building at the Logan County Fairgrounds is going to need some major work soon, but there is a question about who will pay for it.

Discussion about the facility's needs came up Tuesday, when the commissioners met with the building's advisory board during a work session to talk about cleaning. At the meeting were seven of the 12 current board members, including Mark Earnhart, Marilyn Hutt, Bonnie Amen, Don Masin, Judy Long, Gloria Frizler and Sandy Ils.

Earnhart started by explaining that the building is a 501(c)3 non-profit entity that was built to provide a meeting location primarily for youth groups.

“We have cooperatively with the county maintained the building all these years,” he said.

The county commissioners accepted the dedication of the building in 1985. A letter marking the dedication reads “the county will assume all expenses of maintenance, insurance, repairs and utilities.”

Along with the items listed about, the county has typically paid for cleaning the building.

In spring 2012, the commissioners informed the board that the county had someone, a member of the building and grounds department, who could dedicate one hour a week to cleaning the building.

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That person ended up leaving and the county didn't have anyone else that would have time to clean that building and they couldn't afford to hire anyone else. So, in the fall the commissioners sent another letter to the board informing them that the county would no longer be paying for cleaning and told them to use funds collected from rentals to pay for someone to clean.

Since then, adult leaders of youth groups have been doing some cleaning, as well as private contractors, and a couple of groups that use the building regularly try to clean certain areas.

After the letter was sent, building and grounds supervisor Chance Wright came up with an idea to use people from the Social Services Department's Useful Public Service (UPS) program, when they're available, to do the cleaning. There is no cost to the county or the board.

“I stick them over there for an hour, two hours and you know, some of them are better than others,” he said. “I try to go by and check their workmanship and then report to their supervisor -- if they're not cutting it then they're gone and we get somebody else.”

The board expressed concern that the building isn't getting cleaned and they can't afford to pay someone.

Their bylaws state they won't charge youth groups or organized groups, with officers and regular meetings, to use the facility. Only non-organized groups have to pay, meaning they're not collecting much money on rental fees.

Hutt said about 70 percent of the groups that use the building are youth groups, 25 percent are organized groups and 10 percent are other groups that pay.

An annual report shows in 2012 they collected $1,400 through donations or use fees from private parties. Their cash assets, the only assets they have, were $12,324 at the end of December 2012.

Commissioner Gene Meisner suggested they need to increase their fees and charge more groups

“There's too many outside people using it and not paying anything and then the commissioners come back and have to maintain it. That's taxpayers' dollars. I don't think it's fair.”

He noted that the people using the building are using the electricity and water and causing wear and tear.

“You're the one's controlling who's using it, how often it's being used. You're the ones making the decision to not charge people and so consequently you don't have any revenue,” Commissioner Dave Donaldson said. “My personal opinion, as a commissioner, is that I don't think it's a taxpayer's expense to clean up after people that have rented that building from you or used the building and not paid for it.”

He also noted as far as what the acceptance letter says regarding the county's responsibilities, that was fine then but “a board cannot pass something on to subsequent boards.”

“A board can't obligate a future board.”

Earnhart took issue with Donaldson's statements.

“I have a concern that as a board trying to effectively and properly manage this building for the purposes it was constructed and honoring the dollars that were generated from this community to build it, that we have to renegotiate every time an election is happening.”

“Not that I don't think we can come to an agreement with the three of you, that's fine, but I really don't want to have to do that every time we have an election.”

Wright said he will talk to the public service people about what they get done after they're finished cleaning and make sure the next person cleans what the other didn't get done. He will also stay on top of them more to make sure the work gets done.

In discussing the cleaning, Wright noted the building is going to need some updating pretty soon.

“If you look at the counter tops, the sinks, the bathroom stalls, the mirrors, the paneling inside, it's going to need some updating. I don't know where the money will come from for any of that.”

The board agreed the building needs work.

“You guys are going to have to do something about a furnace pretty soon," Ils said, noting the board can't afford to cover that bill.

Donaldson said that's infrastructure replacement and not maintenance, so it's not necessarily the county's job to pay for that.

“When we first built the building, our intent was just to build it and hand it over to you guys and walk away and everything, replacement and everything, was supposed to be the county's jobs," Ils said. “They have not replaced anything really.”

The county does do some maintenance; for example, they recently replaced the lights with energy efficient lighting. However, the board has paid to replace things like windows, though a small portion of funds for that did come from private donors.

Earnhart pointed out even if they double their fees the board is not going to be able to cover the costs of all the work that needs to be done.

Donaldson suggested they develop a strategic plan detailing when they would like to complete different projects and how much they'll cost.

The board said they will consider increasing the fees and charging more groups. But first they plan to look back at who's used the building, if they paid, if there was damage and so on. They also want to talk to those who use the building to see if they would be willing to pay or pay more, as well as look at what other facilities do.

The board plans to meet with the commissioners again, in about a month, to continue the conversation.

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